


Mango Smoothies, Etc

by peterdarling



Series: Perfect Places [3]
Category: Fantastic Four, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Chemistry, Fluff and Angst, Homework, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Not Proofread, Peter is a Good Boyfriend, aunt may is just mentioned, johnny storm is just a kid, le chatelier's principal can suck my, mango smoothie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 18:58:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17209091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterdarling/pseuds/peterdarling
Summary: Johnny is frustrated over his chemistry and Peter is trying to help.





	Mango Smoothies, Etc

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, it is two AM and I REALLY should be sleeping to prepare for the day ahead but instead I wrote this! I did not proofread it a single time and reading this is just a risk you're gonna have to take friends. This is technically part of a series but you don't need to read the other stuff, all you need to know is Peter is 15, Johnny is 16, and they are very cute boyfriends. This is sort of Homecoming universe but really I just do what I want I guess. Wow, I sure am craving a smoothie. I hate chemistry. The spacing is so weird in this I just don't know how to fix it. Goodnight and enjoy :)

About an hour after school on a Friday, Peter’s phone buzzed with a text from Johnny. 

_Hey, do you maybe have time to swing by and help me with some school stuff?? It’s cool if you can’t sorry Sue said I should ask you ___

Peter frowned. The text was a bit uncharacteristic for Johnny. It seemed...sort of off. It didn’t exude the casual confidence Johnny usually did. He seemed unsure of himself in a way he generally wasn’t and had never been when he’d asked Peter for help before. 

Maybe he was just over-analyzing things. Peter shot back a text.

_No problem, I have to finish some Spanish hw, be there in 30_

He added a heart emoji for good measure. 

After hurriedly doing the rest of his homework and texting May to let her know he was headed to a friend’s house, Peter grabbed his backpack and decided to use public transport like the rest of the population instead of going in the suit. Spider-Man didn’t need to be seen around the Baxter Building even more than he already was. He arrived a little later than he’d told Johnny he’d be, but didn’t think much of it. 

Peter found Johnny slumped over a textbook and some worksheets at his kitchen table with his hand fisted in his hair.

He didn’t look his best. He wore the stress like an accessory, to be seen in the way his shoulders carried tension, his brow lowered and scrunched up, and the bags under his eyes you could see if you just looked close enough. It was clear he was having a rough night.

Peter wasn’t used to seeing Johnny in a bad mood. Sure, he’d seen him annoyed, and maybe even a little angry, but not...like this. The energy around him betrayed his mood before Johnny could even open his mouth.

“What’s up?” Peter asked. _What’s wrong? _he meant.__

____

__

____

Johnny tried to smile, but couldn’t seem to move his muscles in a convincing way. He released the grip he had on his hair and instead shoved his hands in the pocket of a large, worn-out NYU hoodie. “Oh, just, um...homework, you know.” 

“What is it?” Peter walked around the table Johnny was at and slid into the chair closest to him. He scooted it slightly so his knee touched Johnny’s.

“Chemistry,” Johnny sighed. “Like, Le Chatelier’s principle, and stuff.” Johnny frowned. “I don’t really get it. Actually, let me rephrase that. I really don’t get it.” 

“Oh, like equilibrium and stuff? Yeah, I can totally help with that. I’m pretty sure I remember that.”

His assurance only seemed to deepen Johnny’s frown. “So you already did all this?” Johnny asked. 

“Um, yeah, I took chem one last year so now I’m in AP.” Peter wasn’t sure what he should say after that.

Johnny squeezed his eyes shut and scrubbed his hands across his face, bringing the blood to the surface and making him more splotchy than he already was. “Of course,” he sighed. “So I guess you’re a genius too then.” It wasn’t much of a question, more like Johnny was confirming something to himself. 

“I don’t think I can really confirm or deny that,” Peter said. He could see Johnny was getting more upset and he didn’t think his presence was helping much. “I just, like, get science, I guess. So, what, um, what are you confused about?” 

Johnny crossed his arms around himself in a frustrated self-hug. “All of it,” he stated bitterly. 

Peter wasn’t sure if he should laugh. “Um, okay,” he spoke, “I guess let’s just start from the beginning, then.” He hesitated, not knowing if Johnny wanted anyone to touch him, before slowly placing his hand on the table as an invitation to hold hands. Johnny squeezed himself tighter, but let go with one arm to almost shyly curl his fingers around Peter’s. 

Nearly twenty minutes later, Johnny only seemed to be getting more and more frustrated. 

“I still don’t get it,” he said, his tone sharp.

“I don’t really know what else to say,” Peter apologized, hoping Johnny was just mad at the situation and not him. 

As if sensing the way Peter was walking on eggshells, Johnny’s voice lost its bite. “I just, um...I’m sorry. I feel so stupid,” he admitted. 

His breathing quickened a little bit, and Peter felt the waves of irritation quickly turn into defeat and panic. He had long ago let go of Peter’s hand in favor of twisting them into his hoodie, which he tried hard to shrink into. Johnny opened his mouth to speak, but it took him a few tries to actually get any words out.

“I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can, Johnny, you just need a little more practice and—” 

"No, I mean, I can’t...I can’t do _this _,” Johnny stressed, shrugging his shoulders vaguely.__

____

__

____

Sadly, Peter knew exactly what he meant. 

They sat in silence for a moment, Peter looking at Johnny and Johnny looking down at the table. Peter just stared, looking at possibly his favorite person in this universe as his eyes watered and his brow furrowed with the effort of maintaining control over his tears. He just stared, and thought of how strong Johnny was. Not in the way Peter used to see him as strong—as a superhero, as someone who could _fly, _who controlled _fire, _who was a skilled fighter and a heroic force in the world.____

_____ _

_____ _

No, he still saw Johnny as strong in that way, but now, after getting to know him as Johnny Storm as well as The Human Torch, he could see a whole new foundation to his strength. He saw Johnny as someone who lost his parents at a young age—one to death, the other to gambling and alcohol—and had to raise himself when his sister went to college. He saw a kid whose first reaction to his sister stealing a rocket and going to space was, “I’m coming too.” He saw a kid who lived in fear of burning the ones he loved, in fear of himself and what he could do. He saw a kid whose life was upended, whose privacy was lost and with it, any chance at a life that even resembled normal. A kid who was basically locked up in a tower like Rapunzel and was only brought out when it was time for an interview or time to fight. Who put on a brave face for the cameras. For his sister. Sometimes, for him.

And seeing Johnny cry over school? Peter understood that he was just a _kid. ___

____

__

____

“Johnny,” Peter started, and once he started, he knew he couldn’t turn back from what he needed to say. “Johnny, you’re expected to juggle photoshoots, interviews, public appearances, superhuman powers, protecting the planet, the _dimension _, and then come home and learn freaking _chemistry _? That’s a lot. That’s...a _ton _.” Peter leaned in, trying to get Johnny to look at him. He didn’t continue until Johnny’s eyes met his. “And you’re sixteen. It’s _okay _to be stressed, Johnny, it’s okay to struggle and need some help once in a while. No one is expecting you to shoulder this alone.” He paused. “And chemistry is fucking _hard _,” he added.__________

At that, Johnny cracked a smile for half a second.

“Sometimes, I feel like…” Johnny’s voice shook from the effort of holding back tears. He restarted. “Sometimes, I feel like Sue does. And Reed does. They just...I can’t even ask them for help on stuff anymore because when I do they just, they just speed right through it with all these science things I don’t even understand and then they look so disappointed when I still don’t get it. And that’s when they even bother trying to explain it.” He sniffed and started rubbing his face again. The longer he spoke, the more he seemed to work himself up. The self-doubt in his tone crushed Peter’s heart. Johnny, the coolest, wittiest, most amazing person he knew, was barely holding himself together because he thought he was ‘disappointing’. _You could never disappoint me, _Peter thought, _ever.___

____

____

Johnny took the deepest breath he could without letting a sob escape and lowered himself so his upper half was laying on the table with his head was buried in his arms. 

“I’m sorry,” Johnny said, and Peter almost felt a lump in his throat. “I’m just so tired.” 

Peter had to fix this. He thought fast, and channeled the nurturing nature his aunt had always so naturally shown and tried his hardest to be as comforting as possible to Johnny. 

“Tell you what,” Peter said, running his hand on Johnny’s skin where his shoulder and his neck met, left exposed by the stretched neck of the hoodie he wore. “Let’s ditch the chem for a little bit. Go get a smoothie, take a brain break.” Johnny looked up at him, eyes still damp but now shining, just barely. Peter felt his heart twist. He was gorgeous, even like this.

“Okay,” Johnny said quietly, as if he were too exhausted to even push the air out of his lungs to speak. He sniffed. “I want mango.”

Peter smiled, and it grew into a crooked, affectionate grin. “If it is mango he wants, it is mango he shall get!” he dramatically declared. 

Later, in bed, Peter set a picture of Johnny wildly smiling around the straw of his mango and peach smoothie as his phone’s home screen and pressed it into his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> If there are HTML mistakes I am very sorry I am just a fool  
> Comments/kudos appreciated! :) Please let me know if you would like to see any additions to this series maybe?


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